Shoe welting



22, 1961 w. c. VlZARD 2,996,815

SHOE WELTING Filed Dec. 24, 1958 PIC-3.7 27

IN V EN TOR. W/W//fl C Vjara BY iqell A T TORNEY United States Patent 2,996,815 SHOE WELTING William C. Vizard, Brockton, Mass, assignor to Barbour Welting Company, Brockton, Mass, a corporation of Massachusetts Filed Dec. 24, 1958, Ser. No. 782,767 2 Claims. (Cl. 36--78) This invention relates to a beaded welting for shoes of the type referred to as reverse welting.

The invention has for a principal object to provide a novel and improved beaded shoe welting of the type known as reverse welting which is characterized by a construction in which the bead may be drawn tightly against the upper of the shoe in which the welt is incorporated by the inseam stitching and will remain in such position throughout the life of the shoe.

A further object of the invention is to provide a novel and improved reverse welting which is characterized by a construction which enables the bead to be maintained at a uniform height around the shoe, thereby enhancing the appearance of the shoe, and which provides an. inseam surface of a shape such as to enable the welting to be capable of resisting any tendency to be pulled under the upper during the application of the welting to the shoe.

A still further object of the present invention is to pro vide a novel and improved reverse welting having a relatively thick inseam portion, thereby strengthening the sewing edge and increasing the tendency of the welting to hug the upper of the shoe.

With these general objects in view and such others as may hereinafter appear, the invention consists in the novel and improved reverse welting, hereinafter described, and particularly defined in the claims at the end of this specification.

In the drawings:

FIGS. 15 are perspective views illustrating the steps in the cutting of the fillet of welding material preparatory to the formation of the finished welt illustrated in FIG. 7',

FIG. 6 is a perspective view of the present welting illustrating the step of folding the welt strip cut in accordance with the steps illustrated in FIGS. 1-5 to form the present reverse welt;

FIG. 7 is an end view of a welt completed in accordance with the present invention; and

FIG. 8 is a view in cross section of the present welt embodied in the completed shoe.

In general, the present invention contemplates a novel and improved reverse welting characterized by structure which enables the welting to be embodied in a shoe such that the bead is maintained at a uniform height around the shoe, a tight seam is formed between the welting and the shoe upper, and the closely hugging position of the welting against the upper is maintained substantially throughout the life of the shoe. The present method of forming the welt comprises the steps of providing a welt extension along one marginal edge of the welt, an inseam flange along the other marginal edge of the welt and an upstanding bead integral with the inseam flange. Novel means is provided for supporting the bead in a position substantially at right angles to the surface of the welt extension and for providing an inseam surface which substantially conforms to the shape of the upper of the shoe in which the welt is incorporated to thereby enable the inseam stitching to draw the welt snugly against the shoe and form a tight seam which will remain tight substantially throughout the life of the shoe and enable the welt to resist any tendency to be pulled under the upper during the welting of the shoe. Thus, the bead around the shoe is maintained at a uniform height, and the appearance of the shoe is enhanced.

Patented Aug. 22, 1961 Another feature of the present invention resides in the fact that the amount of welting stock usually wasted in the manufacture of welting of a similar type is reduced to a minimum since the present finished welt, preferably in width, may be manufactured in accordance with the present method from a strip of welting material, preferably of grain leather welt stock, in width.

Referring now to the drawings and to FIG. 1 in particular, 10 represents a substantially rectangular grain leather welting strip having a grain surface 12 and a flesh surface 14. In accordance with the present method of forming the welting, an elongated V-shaped groove 16 is formed in the grain surface 12 spaced inwardly approximately from the marginal edge 18 of the strip. An incision 20 is made in the marginal edge 22 of the strip commencing at a point 23 spaced approximately .035 upwardly from the flesh surface 14. The incision is extended toward the other marginal edge 18 in a direction parallel to the flesh surface 14 terminating at a point 24 in alignment below one edge 25 of the groove 16. In this manner inseam flap 27 is formed. An incision 26 is made in the marginal edge 18 of the strip commencing at a point 28 and is extended inwardly parallel to the grain surface 12 terminating at a point 30 in alignment with and below the adjacent edge 32 of the groove 16, thus forming bead flap- 34 and inseam flange portion 35. Incision 26 is terminated in alignment below the edge 32 of groove 16 so that when the upstanding bead portion 34 formed by the incision 26 is folded, in a manner hereinafter to be described, a tension is created in the material between the end of the incision and the edge of the groove which causes the bead to have a spring and be urged against the upper of the shoe in which the welt may be embodied. As illustrated in FIG. 3, the flap 27 is folded under and preferably cemented to the flesh surface of the inseam flange portion 35, thereby forming a relatively thick two-part laminated inseam flange portion.

Referring now to FIGS. 4 and 5, an angular incision 37 is made in the laminated inseam flange commencing at point 38 spaced a slight distance inwardly from marginal edge 18 and is extended upwardly and inwardly at an angle of about 45 to a point 40 spaced approximately from incision 26 forming thereby a substantially triangular supporting member 44 integrally hinged to the upper portion 35 of the laminated inseam flange. As shown in FIG. 5, in order to enhance the appearance of the upstanding bead portion 34, the edge is chamfered by removing a relatively thin ribbon of material 41.

As shown in FIG. 5, in order to provide the inseam flap 27 forming the lower member of the two-part inseam flange with a square marginal edge portion 60, the angular incision 37 is commenced slightly inwardly from the marginal edge portion 60. This feature of the present welt becomes important during the application of the welt to the shoe since the square marginal edge 60 enables the welt guide to firmly support the welt during the stitching operation and permits the welting to be firmly and uniformly stitched to the shoe.

In practice upon the completion of the steps illustrated in FIGS. 15, the welt is subjected to folding and cementing operations essential to the formation of the finished welt shown in FIG. 7. Preparatory to the folding operation a suitable cement of the type ordinarily used in the welt manufacturing industry may and preferably will be applied to the contacting surfaces of the portions of the welt to be secured together. Referring to FIG. 6, the bead portion 34 is lifted upwardly on hinge portion 50 to a position in which the edge portions 25, 32 of the groove 16 contact one another and are firmly cemented together. The supporting member 44, which in practice is substantially wedge or triangular in shape, is folded on hinge portion 52 and cemented against the inseam face 54 of thebead and surface 56 of the .inseam flange portion 35. In this manner the bead portion 34 is firmly secured and maintained in an upstanding position such that the welt extension face 59 of the bead is disposed at an angle not exceeding 90 with relation to the upper surface of the welt extension 48.

It will be understood that the cutting, folding and cementing operations necessary in the formation of the present welting are performed by machines generally known and used in the welt manufacturing industry and that the welting is molded into the finished shape illustrated in FIG. 7. As shown in FIG. 7, the finished reverse welt produced in accordance with the present invention comprises a welt extension portion 48, an upstanding bead portion 34, and a relatively thick, heavy inseam flange having a continuous inseam surface indicated at 57 which extends upwardly and inwardly from a point 38 spaced a slight distance upwardly from the bottom surface of inseam flap 27 to a point 58 located intermediate the upper surface of the welt extension 48 and the top of the bead portion 34. Thus, it may be observed that the present reverse welt provides an inseam flange surface which is relatively smooth and continuous and which is capable of conforming to the upper of a shoe in which the welt is embodied to provide a tight seam between the upper and welt which will remain in such condition substantially throughout the life of the shoe.

Referring now to FIG. 8, 64 represents the upper of a shoe in which the present welt is embodied. The welt is stitched to the marginal edge of the upper 64 such that the inseam face 57 and inner face of the bead conform to and hug the upper of the shoe as shown. The stitching 66 extends from behind the stitching shoulder 68 upwardly at an angle of substantially 45 relative to the bottom surface of the welt extension, passing through the relatively thick portion of the inseam flange including the supporting member, substantially midway between the upper and lower edges of the inseam surface 57, and then through the upper and insole 70, thus drawing the welting tightly and conformably against the upper 64. The outsole 72 of the shoe may be secured in operative position by stitching 74 in the manner usually employed in the shoe manufacturing industry.

It will be apparent that the wedge or triangularly shaped supporting member performs two important functions in that it fills in the hollow space between the root of the bead and the upper portion of the inseam to provide a regular, continuous inseam surface which is capable of conforming to the upper of the shoe and also supports and maintains the bead in its upstanding position.

Thus, it may be seen that the present invention provides a novel and improved welting having a construction which enables the welt to tightly hug the upper of the shoe in which it is embodied and remain in such position substantially throughout the life of the shoe.

While it is preferred to construct the present novel welting of leather, it is not desired to limit the invention thereto, as the welting may be of a plastic or other suitable material and may, if desired, be extruded into the shape illustrated in FIGS. 7 and 8.

Having thus described the invention, what is claimed is:

1. An integral shoe welt having an inseam flange along one marginal edge, a welt extension along the other marginal edge, and an upstanding bead intermediate said inseam flange and said welt extension, said inseam flange having a horizontal bottom surface, said bead having substantially parallel vertical surfaces, one of which projects upwardly from the point of juncture of said bead with said welt extension, said inseam flange having a continuous inclined portion extending from the other vertical surface of said head commencing at a line midway of the height of said bead and downwardly and away therefrom to a point adjacent the bottom surface of said inseam flange.

2. An integral shoe welt as defined in claim 1, in which said welt extension includes a horizontal bottom surface parallel with and disposed in a plane inwardly of the plane of the bottom surface of said inseam flange.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,153,321 Vizard Apr. 4, 1939 2,275,574 Vizard Mar. 10, 1942 2,750,686 Vizard June 19, 1956 

